The current prices for enthusiast level motherboards are high. That's expected as the enthusiast motherboards has all the bells and whistles. They feature the cutting-edge technologies that are available to consumers. Come to think of it, even the entry-level chipsets based motherboards are high in price.

Sources close to motherboard manufacturers, quoted by DigiTimes, confirmed the prices to drop between 5% - 10% this year. The price cut will only be for entry-level chipset motherboards such as 865, 848, and 845 series. The decision is taken to improve the Q2 entry-level sales.

There are few reasons as to why the companies are making such price cuts. First - Intel slashed the prices of it's products earlier this year, which is causing the motherboard companies to follow Intel. Second - Motherboard makers want to sell as many motherboards as they can in their off-season. Third - Motherboard companies want to promote the entry-level motherbaord before they go out of existence.

There is still a huge market for entry-level motherboards. ASRock, a fairly unknown brand, is looking to sell 800,000 units as opposed to 650,000 units since February of 2004, confirmed DigiTimes sources.

The price cuts doesn't affect the enthusiast community all that much but it would be a good time for those who are looking to build a budget-level system for general use.